Even at the PGA Championship, fans chant ‘Let’s go Mets'

David Wright got to hear it from the rowdy New York fans in a way he hasn’t heard since injuries forced him to step away from baseball at the end of last season.

The ex-Met captain is serving as the Honorary Ambassador of the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black this week. He walked the course during the first round, hearing the “Let’s go Mets” chants from fans, many decked out in blue and orange. There was plenty of Yankee gear in the crowd as well.

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As Wright knows, New York fans add a special spice to any event.

“Yeah, no doubt. I mean, it’s — yeah, they’re passionate. They’re brutally honest," Wright said. “You know, and these players, they know first-hand, you can tell by the crowd after they hit a good shot or a bad shot. They don’t even need to watch to see where it goes.

“But really neat to see how — everybody wearing the Mets hats and the Yankees hats kind of come out and support a different sport, but are still pretty rowdy and loud.”

Wright followed Tiger Woods for some of his uneven opening round of 2-over 72. Naturally, even Tiger isn’t immune from New York fans. Wright said at one point one fan screamed at Woods to “suck it up.”

David Wright, l, watches a shot by Brooks Keopka. (Julio Cortez/AP)

Wright, now a member of the Mets front office, never played much golf during his baseball career. He said he never wanted to mess up his baseball swing. Now? He’s taking up the game.

He said he would prefer a noisy baseball crowd over the silence golfers require during their swings.

“Yeah, that (quiet) would be too weird, especially because I swung and missed a lot, so I’d hear the whoosh when I’m swinging and missing, which I don’t want to hear,” Wright said. “No, it’s different, but you can kind of tell like that energy is the same. Anywhere we followed Tiger and Brooks (Koepka) and (Francesco) Molinari this morning and just — I mean, even if we weren’t following them, you could kind of tell on the course where they are just because of the roars and just the excitement.”

As for the Mets, who lost Thursday to fall to 20-22 and 3.5 games behind the NL East-leading Phillies? He believes the team will eventually click. He noted the Met bats started hot and the pitching was suspect, and then the bats cooled when the pitching perked up.

“If we play the way we're capable of playing, there should be a lot of wins,” he said.

The almost-always affable Wright even took a subtle swing at the Phillies’ $330 million man, Bryce Harper, who’s off to a slow start.

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“I mean, I like Bryce Harper, but he’s a Phillie, so I don’t want to root for him to struggle, but I don’t want to root for him to do well, either," Wright said. “Maybe there’s a mid-line where he does well, (and) they don’t win a lot. That would be nice.”

HERE’S DANNY

Danny Lee, with one PGA Tour win to his credit, was the only player to make a run at leader Brooks Koepka during the opening round.

As for Koepka? Lee expected the three-time major winner to set the pace.

“Well, I wasn’t surprised when Brooks shot 7-under. I mean, have you seen him playing U.S. Opens and PGA Championships the last three years? When you’re hitting driver, pitching wedge every hole,” Lee said. “I wasn’t surprised at all. But it didn’t change my game plan at all.

“I’m not like Brooks Koepka long, but I can carry it about 290, 300 now. My mindset was honestly some kind of under-par round would be good, but obviously I did a lot better than that today, and I was very pleased with it.”

BIG NAMES LURKING

Phil Mickelson. (Stuart Franklin/Getty)

Farmingdale favorite Phil Mickelson, who can draw Tiger-like cheers at Bethpage, is part of a large group a ways back from Koepka but in the mix. He finished 1-under 69.

“Going out tomorrow, I feel like I’m playing well,” Mickelson said. “I feel good about my game, and I feel like I’m playing well enough to shoot a low round out there. I feel like I can shoot something in the mid 60s, whether it’s tomorrow or the weekend. You know, I feel like I can do it.”

Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and Dustin Johnson all were all 1-under heading into Friday.

DALY’S DAY

John Daly was granted permission to drive a golf cart through the Black course, even though everyday players aren't allowed to. (Patrick Smith/Getty)

Long John Daly and his controversial cart will probably end up rolling right into the parking lot to his RV so he can pack up and go home on Friday. He limped to a 5-over par 75 that looked like a painful process.

Daly was granted the use of a cart because of his arthritic knee, the first player to ride in a major since Casey Martin in 2012. Martin had a circulatory condition in his leg, so serious that doctors advised him against walking golf courses.

Daly was decked out in very loud Yankee pants and puffing on a Marlboro heater as he rolled around Bethpage Black, a course where everyday players aren’t allowed to take a cart.

Daly is a golf folk hero of sorts, famously winning the 1991 PGA Championship as the ninth alternate and capturing the British Open in 1995. Well-documented issues with alcohol and his weight ended up dulling an incredible amount of talent.

He has a lifetime PGA Championship exemption because of his 1991 win. Thursday he appeared to be in serious pain, despite the cart, as he navigated the treacherous terrain of the Black Course.